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Ancient Greek Cosmogony is the first detailed, comprehensive account of ancient Greek theories of the origins of the world. It covers the period from 800 BC to 600 AD, beginning with myths concerning the creation of the world; the cosmogonies of all the major Greek and Roman thinkers; and the debate between Greek philosophical cosmogony and early Christian views. It argues that Greeks formulated many of the perennial problems of philosophical cosmogony and produced philosophically and scientifically interesting answers. The atomists argued that our world was one among many worlds, and came about by chance. Plato argued that it is unique, and the product of design. Empedocles and the Stoics, in quite different ways, argued that there was an unending cycle whereby the world is generated, destroyed and generated again. Aristotle on the other hand argued that there was no such thing as cosmogony, and the world has always existed. Reactions to, and developments of, these ideas are traced through Hellenistic philosophy and the debates in early Christianity on whether God created the world from nothing or from some pre-existing chaos. The book examines issues of the origins of life and the elements for the ancient Greeks, and how the cosmos will come to an end. It argues that there were several interesting debates between Greek philosophers on the fundamental principles of cosmogony, and that these debates were influential on the development of Greek philosophy and science. Cover 1 Contents 6 Abbreviations 11 Preface 12 Introduction 14 I. Central aims 14 II. Perennial problems 15 III. Classifying ancient cosmogonies 17 IV. The ancient evidence 18 V. Philosophical cosmogony 20 VI. The history of cosmogony 21 VII. Cosmogony and Meno’s paradox 23 VIII. Resources in ancient cosmogony 24 1. Mythological Accounts of Creation 26 I. Philosophical cosmogony and creation tales 26 II. The origins of philosophical cosmogony 27 III. Biological analogues and invariance 28 IV. Two questions for myths 31 V. Egyptian creation myths 31 VI. Babylonian creation myths 33 VII. Early Greek creation myths 34 VIII. Hesiod 35 IX. Oriental influences 37 2. The Milesians 39 I. Thales: general principles 39 II. Thales and soul 40 III. Thales, vortices and multiple kosmoi 42 IV. Anaximander: general principles 43 V. Anaximander’s steering principle 43 VI. Anaximander and multiple co-existent kosmoi 45 VII. Anaximander and multiple successive kosmoi 49 VIII. Anaximander and the drying-out theory 51 IX. Anaximander and the doxography 52 X. Anaximander and unlimited generation 55 XI. Anaximander and vortices 56 XII. Anaximander’s zoogony 57 XIII. Anaximenes: general principles 59 XIV. Anaximenes and the steering principle 60 XV. Anaximenes and multiple kosmoi 61 XVI. Anaximenes and vortices 62 XVII. Aristotle and steering 63 XVIII. Hesiod and the Milesians 64 XIX. Physics and cosmogony 67 XX. Conclusion 68 3. Heraclitus 70 I. Heraclitus and cosmogony 70 II. Evidence for ekpurôsis 72 III. Evidence against ekpurôsis 73 IV. Why is there no cosmogony in Heraclitus? 74 V. The priority of fire: fire as archê 75 VI. The priority of fire: fire not as archê 76 VII. Motivation for successive kosmoi? 78 VIII. Value of testimony, Aristotle and after 79 IX. Cosmogony and chance 80 X. Conclusion 81 4. Parmenides and Eleaticism 83 I. Nothing from nothing 83 II. Sufficient reason 84 III. The initial state dilemma 85 IV. Parmenides’ cosmogony 86 V. The aims of Parmenides’ cosmogony 87 VI. Conclusion 90 5. Empedocles 91 I. Empedocles, Parmenides and Heraclitus 92 II. Empedocles and creation ex nihilo 92 III. The history of the cosmic cycle 93 IV. The nature of the cosmic cycle 95 V. Fragment 17 98 VI. Literary form and philosophical content 98 VII. The unity of Empedocles’ thought and the Strasbourg papyrus 99 VIII. Successive kosmoi 100 IX. Chance: the evidence of Aristotle 101 X. Chance: the doxographic evidence 103 XI. Chance and zoogony 104 XII. Chance and cosmogony in Empedocles 106 XIII. Modern cyclical cosmos theories 107 XIV. Empedocles and teleology 108 XV. Some Empedoclean weaknesses 111 XVI. Empedocles’ motivation 112 XVII. Conclusion 114 6. Anaxagoras 115 I. Anaxagoras and the Eleatics 115 II. Cosmic nous 116 III. Anaxagoras on cosmogony 117 IV. Plato and Aristotle on Anaxagoras 118 V. The withdrawal of nous 120 VI. Multiple kosmoi in Anaxagoras? 121 VII. Successive or co-existent kosmoi? 122 VIII. Other interpretations of Fragment 4 123 IX. Anaxagoras’ anthropic argument 125 X. Why an anthropic argument? 128 XI. Conclusion 129 7. Leucippus and Democritus 130 I. The ou mallon principle 130 II. ou mallon and early atomist cosmogony 131 III. Cosmogony and chance 133 IV. The like-to-like principle 134 V. The fate of kosmoi 135 VI. Multiple universe theories 136 VII. Principles of cosmogony 137 VIII. The application of ou mallon arguments 138 IX. Conclusion 139 8. Some Other Presocratics 141 I. Xenophanes and theology 141 II. Xenophanes and the kosmos 142 III. Pythagorean cosmogony 143 IV. Pythagorean cyclical cosmogony 144 V. Archelaus 145 VI. Diogenes of Apollonia 146 VII. Diogenes of Apollonia and multiple kosmoi 147 VIII. Diogenes the eclectic? 148 IX. The Derveni papyrus author 149 X. The Derveni papyrus and the cosmological constant 150 XI. Conclusion 152 9. Plato 153 I. Plato’s teleological intent 153 II. Like-to-like principles 153 III. Non-progressive chaos 154 IV. Versions of chaos 155 V. The generation of the world soul 157 VI. Literal and metaphorical interpretations 160 VII. A qualified literal view 162 VIII. Zoogony 164 IX. Stoichogony 166 X. A modern elements problem 168 XI. Unique kosmos or multiple kosmoi? 169 XII. Discovery and invention in cosmogony 171 XIII. The fate of the kosmos 173 XIV. Conclusion 175 10. Aristotle 176 I. No origin of matter 176 II. No origin of motion 177 III. No origin of time 178 IV. Proportionality and cosmogony 178 V. Empedocles and Anaxagoras 180 VI. Physical objections to cosmogony 181 VII. Zoogony and stoichogony 181 VIII. Logical objections to cosmogony 182 IX. On Philosophy: theological objections to cosmogony 183 X. Aristotle and cosmogony 185 XI. Conclusion 185 11. Epicurus and His Followers 186 I. The Epicurean kosmos 186 II. Epicurean cosmogony 188 III. Against teleology and providence 189 IV. Zoogony 192 V. The Epicurean swerve 193 VI. Some perennial problems 195 VII. Epicurus on rare and dense kosmoi 195 VIII. The destruction of kosmoi 197 IX. Conclusion 198 12. The Stoics 200 I. Stoic cosmogony 200 II. The Stoics against chance 203 III. The expansion and contraction of the kosmos 203 IV. Successive cycles 204 V. Ekpurôsis and providence 206 VI. The Stoic conception of fire 208 VII. Reasons for successive kosmoi 211 VIII. Philo on Boethus’ arguments 213 IX. Philo on Theophrastus’ arguments 214 X. Conclusion 215 13. Early Christianity and Creation 216 I. Creation ex nihilo prior to Christianity 216 II. The biblical account 217 III. The Christian Bible 217 IV. The Bible on creation 218 V. Word and deed in Genesis 221 VI. Biblical creation and other creation tales 221 VII. The Christians on creation 222 VIII. The Christians on pre-creation 224 IX. Creation ex nihilo 226 X. The originality of Christian cosmogony 228 XI. Conclusion 230 14. Later Platonism and the Debate with Christianity 231 I. Later Platonists and the Timaeus 231 II. Neoplatonism 232 III. Sallustius 234 IV. Philo of Alexandria 236 V. Philoponus, Proclus and Aristotle 237 VI. The question of infinite past time 239 VII. The fate of Aristotle 240 VIII. Plutarch 243 IX. Theophilus 245 X. Tertullian and Hermogenes 246 XI. Origen and successive kosmoi 246 XII. Origen and matter 248 XIII. Augustine 249 XIV. Conclusion 250 Conclusion 251 I. Ancient cosmogony questions 251 II. One kosmos or many? 252 III. Types of ancient cosmogony 253 IV. Resources in ancient cosmogony 254 V. Cosmogony and modelling 255 VI. Cosmogony and related fields 256 VII. The Greeks and us 257 VIII. Finis 258 Notes 260 Bibliography 296 Index Locorum 314 A 314 B 315 C 315 D 315 E 316 G 316 H 316 I 317 J 317 L 317 M 317 N 317 O 317 P 317 S 318 T 319 X 319 Z 319 Index of Names 320 A 320 B 320 C 320 D 320 E 320 G 321 H 321 I 321 J 321 L 321 M 321 N 321 O 321 P 321 S 321 T 322 X 322 Z 322 General Index 323 A 323 B 323 C 323 D 324 E 324 G 324 H 324 I 325 L 325 M 325 N 325 O 325 P 325 S 326 T 326 V 327 X 327 Z 327 Ancient Greek Cosmogony"" is the first detailed and comprehensive account of ancient Greek theories of the origins of the world. It covers the period from 800 BC to 600 AD, beginning with myths concerning the creation of the world. It covers the cosmogonies of all the major Greek and Roman thinkers, as well as the debate between Greek philosophical cosmogony and early Christian views. It argues that Greeks formulated many of the perennial problems of philosophical cosmogony and produced philosophically and scientifically interesting answers. The atomists argued that our world was one among man